1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printed circuit board having an insulated substrate formed thereon with a circuit pattern on which electronic components are mounted, and further to a method of producing such a printed circuit board.
2. Description of the Related Art
Copper foil is applied onto an insulated substrate, then a circuit pattern is formed by applying a photoresist onto the copper foil followed by exposure and development, or formed by screen printing. Then, etching is carried out to remove unnecessary portions so that a printed circuit board is produced. Subsequently, required electronic components are mounted thereon. Heretofore, an electronic component is normally attached to the board by passing a lead wire of the electronic component through a hole formed in the board and then soldering it on the underside of the board. Now, an electronic component in the form of a chip without a lead wire is in general directly connected to the circuit pattern by reflow soldering.
FIG. 5 shows a structure of a conventional printed circuit board 1 with electronic components 2 mounted thereon. Specifically, the printed circuit board 1 comprises a product board region 3 where the electronic components 2 are mounted on a circuit pattern, and a positioning region 4 which is used for positioning the product board region 3 relative to the electronic components 2 for mounting the electronic components 2 at given positions in the product board region 3. The positioning region 4 is formed with a pair of round and elongate positioning holes 5 for engagement with corresponding positioning pins provided on a carrying table of a component mounting apparatus. After the mounting of the electronic components 2 has been finished, the product board region 3 is separated from the positioning region 4 by bending the board 1 along a separation line 6 in the form of a perforation line, a V-cut line or the like.
In the structure of the foregoing conventional printed circuit board 1, however, the positioning region 4 is separated from the product board region 3 after the completion of the mounting of the electronic components 2 so as to be discarded as industrial waste. This is an adverse factor in view of the maintenance of the terrestrial environment. Also in view of the resources saving, it is required to minimize the amount of the industrial waste. Nowadays, it has been strongly demanded to the industrial world to keep as good the terrestrial environment as possible.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a printed circuit board whose portion that has been discarded heretofore can be utilized as an element for another use.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method of producing such a printed circuit board.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printed circuit board having an insulated substrate formed thereon with a circuit pattern for mounting thereon an electronic component, the printed circuit board comprising a product board region for mounting the electronic component on the circuit pattern; and a positioning region provided so as to be separable from the product board region, the positioning region used for positioning the product board region relative to the electronic component, wherein a given element for another use is separably formed in an unused region of the positioning region.
It may be arranged that the given element comprises a printed circuit pattern.
It may be arranged that the given element comprises a printed circuit pattern formed thereon with an electronic component.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of producing a printed circuit board having an insulated substrate formed thereon with a circuit pattern, a product board region for mounting an electronic component on the circuit pattern, and a positioning region provided so as to be separable from the product board region and used for positioning the product board region relative to the electronic component, the method comprising separably forming a given element for another use in an unused region of the positioning region.
It may be arranged that the given element comprises a printed circuit pattern.
It may be arranged that the given element comprises a printed circuit pattern formed thereon with an electronic component.